Residential Monolithic Footing Exposed Rebar

[JRoutley]

Recently ran into a foundation contractor who pours his footing + stem walls monolithically and uses horizontal rebar set directly ontop of his footing forms to hold up the stem wall forms. After the pour he has essentially #4 bar that will forever stick out of the stem wall and beyond footing face by 1"(after forms are removed). I have never seen anything like this however he claims he has done it this way for 30+ years and no inspector or engineer every questioned. Per builder the bar is not used as reinforcement and doesn't make contact with structural bars inside wall to avoid corrosion. Thoughts?

 

[ANE91]

The metals don’t need to make physical contact. Contact via an electrolyte is sufficient. A moist concrete matrix provides for a good electrolyte.

Further, the surface around the protruding bars provides a locus for freeze-thaw damage and the penetration of chlorides and sulfates.

As always, the application matters. I wouldn’t blink if I saw this on a house. You’re lucky there’s steel in the foundation, at all. The “structural bars” are probably sitting on the dirt and corroding away, anyway.

 

[JRoutley]

Thanks for your thoughts! Is there anything in the ACI that would prohibit this specifically or is this just a no brainer? I looked through IRC / IBC but couldn't see anything specifically addressing aside from minimum rebar clearances.

I work solely in the residential world in a high seismic zone and unforunately I can only assume things like this are common. This was only brought to my attention because builder used to short of a lap splice and inspector called him on it. When he provided photos I saw his construction sequence and possibly vommited in my mouth a little. . .

 

[BAretired]

It is poor workmanship and cannot be recommended.

 

[TRAK.Structural]

Minimum clear cover in ACI would be what I would point to, along with common sense.

Even if this bar is not "structural", when it corrodes the expansion of the steel has the potential to crack the surrounding concrete and provide an even easier path for water/moisture to enter the wall.

 

[XR250]

Maybe he can switch to fiberglass rebar

 

[ANE91]

Is there anything in the ACI that would prohibit this specifically or is this just a no brainer?

ACI doesn’t explicitly call for no soda bottles in the concrete, but that doesn’t stop it from happening!

 

[rlmengineer]

I have seen several foundation walls were with horizontal cracks where snap ties were not removed and patched properly. Water will seep in around the snap ties and corrode any reinforcement that was placed on the snap tie for support. The rebar expansion will form horizontal wall cracks, which will be very expensive to fix. I would never allow exposed reinforcement under ground.